Hillary Clinton made a major left turn last Sunday night in her debate with Bernie Sanders. The leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for President shifted her position on hydraulic fracturing.
In answer to a question, Clinton outlined a set of conditions that would have to be met before she supported fracking, and then added this critical qualifier: “By the time we get through with my conditions, I do not think there will be many places in America where fracking will continue to take place.”
That is a policy shift from her earlier position outlined in a factsheet released last month, where she said “natural gas plays a critical role in reducing CO2 and other pollutants (and has)…yielded significant public health benefits.”
Clinton may have been pulled to the left by Sanders who, in answer to the same question about whether he supported fracking, said simply, “no.”
It’s stunning that the technology that has led to the energy production resurgence in this country is so cavalierly dismissed by Sanders and Clinton. Fracking has opened mammoth gas and oil reserves that were previously unreachable, guaranteeing energy stability and security for generations as well as creating a new economic force.
The Energy Information Administration estimates that the United States will become a net exporter of LNG (liquefied natural gas) by the middle of next year, marking the first time since 1955 that we will export more than we import.
The American Petroleum Institute says production from Marcellus reserves alone has risen from one billion cubic feet per day to 16 billion just in the last few years. U.S. crude oil production increased 74 percent between 2008 and 2014.
Most of the surge in gas production and about half of the oil comes from fracked wells. In fact, there is so much gas and oil available here and around the world now that prices are hitting historic lows, keeping energy and gasoline bills down for consumers.
One would think that would be welcome news to Sanders and Clinton since the residents of their states pay among the highest prices per kilowatt hour for electricity in the continental U.S. —15.2 cents in New York and 14.2 cents in Vermont, compared with eight cents in West Virginia and a national average of just under ten cents. (Fracking is prohibited in New York and Vermont.)
Gas and oil drilling have slowed because of the glut, but energy is still a critical component of the economy. A PwC study for the industry says 340,000 jobs are tied to energy development just in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
Concerns about damage to water wells and groundwater from fracking have not been substantiated. Last year, a draft of the EPA’s five-year comprehensive review found “hydraulic fracturing activities have not led to widespread, systemic impacts to drinking water resources.”
Additionally, a two-year long study by the University of Cincinnati of water wells in five Ohio counties where gas well fracking occurs found, according to lead researcher Dr. Amy Townsend-Small, “All the samples fell within the clean water range and they did not find any changes over time.”
Either Clinton was just playing to the crowd Sunday or she’s so worried about the votes from the environmental extremists that she has to move even closer to the radical anti-carbon view of a democratic socialist.
If, as she promised Sunday, a Clinton presidency means shutting down fracking, America’s energy industry resurgence is over.